Shūsuke Fuji/Playing Style
Fuji is a counterpuncher, playing a steady game and attacking at the right time. His style of play is distinguished by his prodigously-skilled near-game-winning techniques that are designed to specifically counter particular tennis shots and his given opponent. The prodiguous skill of these counter techniques and the amazing tennis senses from which they stem from are what make Fuji recognized and renowned as the exemplary tennis genius amidst his peers, coaches, and his competitors. Fuji's genius is such that he can utilize his counter techniques in creative ways to the extent where he can actively adapt his shots and tactics within matches and, more impressively and befitting his status as a genius, further develop and even outright innovate brand new techniques during the match itself, most prominently demonstrated in his Nationals singles match against Kuranosuke Shiraishi, and further shown in his anime matches against Rokkaku and Tezuka. Further establishing Fuji being a tennis genius are his considerably amazing tennis senses even by the high standards of his peers and competitors and other fellow tennis geniuses. He possesses the unique genius ability to read the wind and utilize it for his Hakugei counter and later create his sixth counter Hoshi Hanabi, and Fuji can sense the presence of the ball to the extent where he is one of the few players who can effortlessly play tennis without vision, first demonstrated in his match against Kirihara when he was blinded by Kirihira's smash to his forehead, and again in his Nationals match in closing his eyes against Niou's Illusion of Tezuka. Even without seeing, Fuji can still accurately feel and respond to his opponent's shots as they freshly come to him, which prevents a user of Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami from being able to read or predict Fuji's next move. In the World Cup Group League, Fuji utilizes even further depths to his genius tennis senses, taking in all the information of his opponent's special technique and using that information to anticipate and react in advance to his opponent's play. Fuji's genius tennis senses collectively reflect his astounding ball control, best exemplified in his ability to hit cord balls at will without needing to see, and also his ability to force his opponent to hit a cord ball to Fuji's desire. Fuji is also skilled enough in ball control to keep Jirou, an amazing and relentless serve-and-volley player, chained at the baseline even without the need to use Hakugei. Furthermore, Fuji is skilled enough to successfully utilize the racquet frame to return shots, as he did against Kirihara's copied 'Ka' smash which earlier broke Fuji's racquet strings. Fuji is also wary and skilled enough to hide his true strength and capabilities from Data Tennis players to the extent where Fuji can outright deceive them. Inui Sadaharu noted more than once that Fuji was the only player whom he couldn't get accurate data on, which was fully demonstrated when Fuji completely deceived Hajime Mizuki's Data Tennis by manipulating him to misleadingly win 0-5 before Fuji reversed and crushed Mizuki 7-5, effortlessly winning 7 straight games in a row. His body is noted to be very flexible, evidenced by his playstyle which utilizes many amazing moves and beautiful shots, although Shiraishi has noted that Fuji does not move very efficiently. Fuji's power is somewhat lacking compared to others, as Ishida assumed that he would be unable to return his Hadokyu in their Doubles match, and Fuji's Higuma Otoshi was overpowered by Tachibana's raw power in his Wild Beast Mode in their private match and also by Shiraishi in their Nationals singles match. After his short-lived U-17 camp match against Tezuka and Tezuka's subsequent departure for Germany, Fuji expanded upon and completely revised his style of tennis play, unveiling a new offense-focused play style at the Pre-World Cup Exhibition and declaring that he no longer relies on defensive tennis. This drastic change in play style is of such a degree that the U-17 German team considered Fuji to be a completely different person compared to what they had profiled of him. To date, Fuji is the only player in the manga series to be officially acknowledged with two distinct tennis play styles, from which one play style has changed into another. Fuji's current style of offense-focus tennis sees him relentlessly going for the win by actively utilizing his genius tennis senses to a greater extent than previously and, with them, employ a newly designed set of ultra-aggressive counters to seize the initiative and win the rally. Fuji themes and collectively calls these techniques as 'Kaze no Kougeki Waza' (Attack Techniques of Wind). Throughout the series, Fuji has been regarded as one the best middle-schoolers in tennis, occasionally held by others in favourable and competing comparison to his national-level Seigaku captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu. Fuji is so far the only player whom Ryoma has given a respectful and acknowledging 'Mada mada su' to, stating that Fuji did not need more to work on, instead recognizing Fuji's strength and that he had not gone all out in his match against Jirou. Most impressively, U-17 All-Japan representatives No. 3 Duke Watanabe and No. 1 and team captain Hōō Byōdōin acknowledge Fuji's genius and depth of potential, both of them agreeing that if Fuji continues to develop, he would eventually become a tennis player whose prodiguous prowess would be on level with them. Serve and Volley After facing Jirou in the Hyotei arc, Fuji sometimes during matches might change his play style to serve and volley. Though he is not nearly as good as a regular serve and volley player, he still can do it. Counters Full article: Triple Counters Attack Techniques of Wind Kaze no Kougeki Waza, c''ritical wind''. These are a set ultra-offensive counter techniques created by Fuji during the Pre-World Cup doubles match with Duke. Their names are themed after particular winds. *Hollyhock Blizzard "Aoi Fubuki" (葵吹雪) *Light Wind "Hikarikaze" Serves Disappearing Serve (消えるサーブ) Otherwise known as a "cut-serve", but because Fuji spins the ball as he drops it, this particular underhand serve makes the ball also disappears. While not as fast or powerful as most serves, many players are caught off guard by the way the ball abruptly "cuts" to the left (the returner's right), and in a sense "disappears". Others Closed Eye (心の瞳) ' Closed Eyes is a state where Fuji is playing tennis without his sense of seeing, instead relying on his other sharpened senses to feel the presence of the ball and accurately return it. In this state, Fuji can hit balls as they come to him, making it extremely difficult for the opponent to predict their next move. Thus, this method allows the user to break through 'Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami. Anime Only Upper Body Split Step This move was created out of need at the Kantō Tournament finals during his match with Kirihara who hurt Fuji's knee. The difference in speed allows Fuji to cover the court more effectively. Australian Formation In episode 136: Junior Selection Camp, Gathered, Fuji and Saeki pair up as a doubles pair against Inui and Yanagi pair. When they were losing, both Fuji and Saeki surprised viewers with their ability to use the Australian Formation. Knuckle Serve (ナックルサーブ) Due to the fact that Fuji is angry, he uses the Knuckle Serve to take revenge. Before the user throws the ball in the air, the user squeezes the ball first to add an extreme and unpredictable spin. U-17 Camp Stats The ability to stop his opponents by using all kinds of Counters has earned him the nickname "Seigaku's Genius." *Speed - 3: The flow of the game never forces him to run around. As the match progresses, he doesn't need speed. *Power - 3: Though small statured, he can deliver surprisingly powerful blows. But he's not very good in a power battle, so he compensates with his technique. *Stamina - 3: While not yet national level, as a result of daily training there's no problems with his fundamental stamina. But, if he has an eye for greater heights, still more training is needed. *Mental - 4: Having passed the stage where he didn't care about the sense of accomplishent from winning or losing, he's grown obsessed with the win. *Technique - 5: He implements his ideas in ways ordinary people cannot, possessing special A-class technique. Kurobe Memo: His beautiful playstyle leaves no doubt that he is a genius. However, if he wasn't so concerned about style, he could grow much stronger. Category:Character Subpages